March of the Damned
by Light of the Dawn
Summary: When an epidemic sweeps the nation, it claims the lives of thousands but in the process it brings together an unlikely group of people who must rely on one another for survival. Will they be able to put their differences aside or will the apocalypse claim their lives as well? Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons and Walking Dead crossover. Pairings TBD.
1. Nothing To Worry About

**Something fresh to stoke and inspire my muse.**

**I don't own Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks or The Walking Dead.**

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"Merida!" Hands grasped the Scottish lass's shoulders and shook her urgently. "Merida! Wake up!"

"Geroff me." Merida said, pushing the owner of the hands away and rolling over onto her side. "I'm sleepin' in taday."

"This is important!" The woman's voice said as she began to shake Merida by the shoulder once more.

Annoyed, the redhead sat up in bed, glaring at her roommate in the gloom of their dormitory. "Whot do ye want, Tooth?"

"Merida, something's happened." The girl called Tooth told her.

"Ah know." The Scottish lass said in annoyance, covering her mouth lazily as she yawned. "All classes are cancelled today. Now, if that's all, Ah'm going back to sleep."

But the brunette would not let her redheaded roommate go back to sleep and grabbed the girl's arm, trying to express the urgency of the situation as she shifted her weight back nervously from one foot to the other. "Merida, this is serious. Do you know _why_ classes were cancelled?"

The redhead blew a curl out of her face in annoyance, rolling her eyes as she spoke to her roommate. "Ach, why were classes cancelled today?"

"Because the university is closed until further notice." Tooth said, taking short breaths. "Merida, they're evacuating the city!"

This finally got the redhead's attention. "Whot? Why would they do tha'?"

"Haven't you been following the news?" Tooth asked, running her hand through her green and blue-tipped pixie cut. "You're in _political sciences_ for goodness sakes! How could you _not_ be following current events?"

"Ah did nae choose political sciences." Merida said as though it was the most obvious fact in the world. "Why would Ah choose _political sciences_ over all things? Ah don't want to become ma_ mother_."

Tooth sighed in exasperation. "Have you at least _heard_ of the epidemic that's going around?"

"Oh, tha'?" Merida asked in annoyance, rolling her eyes. "There's nothin' to worry abou'."

"Actually, there is." Tooth said. "It's _kind of_ serious."

"Ye sound like ma mum." Merida said, rolling her eyes at her roommates. "There's nothin' to be worried abou'."

"Merida, are you even listening?" Tooth said, sitting down on her friend's bed and grabbing the girl by her shoulders. "People are _dying_. Campus is _closed down _until further notice. People are fleeing the city by the thousands!"

"They'll come up with a cure in no time a' all." Merida said with a shrug. "Probably already have."

"But they haven't. Merida, this is really serious. Really,_ really_ serious." Tooth insisted.

"Well, we're probably safer stayin' here in res for the time bein' anyway, so stop yer worryin'." Merida said.

Tooth took a deep breath and nodded moving to her own bed, where she sat cross-legged. Then she picked up her bookbag, which had been left on the floor beside her bed. Pulling it up onto her lap, she rifled through it for a moment before pulling out a large volume of text. "I may as well get some studying done."

"Typical Tooth." Merida said with a yawn, arching her back until it made several satisfying cracks. Rubbing one eye with one hand, she threw her covers off her bed and swung her legs over the side. "Ah'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Tooth asked, looking up from her books quickly.

"Bathroom." Merida said, reaching for the door handle.

"But-" Tooth began quickly, her roommate cut her off.

"Ah got this, don' worry." Merida said, grabbing one of the hospital masks from the box on her desk and holding it up for display. "Ah'll be fine."

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The elastic waistband of her pajama pants taut around her calves, she sighed, still tired from her roommate having woken her up before her time. The hospital mask restricted the airflow to her nose and mouth, and as she yawned, she pulled the thing up and rested it on a mass of curls on the top of her head.

Tooth didn't have to know.

She wouldn't get sick, anyhow. Tooth was just overreacting like the high strung, hyperactive A-type person that she was. Merida was not concerned about the state of things. In a few days, the university would be open again and she would resume skipping classes that her mother had chosen for her.

The shuffling sound of footsteps across the tiled bathroom floor alerted Merida to another individual's presence.

See? Not everyone was leaving the city. Tooth was just overreacting.

The footsteps paused outside her stall and the girl didn't think anything of it, reaching over to grab some toilet paper from the holder, which squeaked loudly in protest as the girl unrolled some.

Moments later, the individual outside Merida's stall hit the door, startling the redhead. Frowning, the girl rolled her eyes as the person outside the stall banged against the door again.

"Hold yer horses, Ah'll be out in a minute." Merida said, her tone clearly showing her irritation.

Whoever was outside the stall didn't seem very interested in practising patience and grunted in irritation as they slammed their body against the stall door a third time with increased force.

Gritting her teeth, Merida unlocked the stall door and pulled it open as the individual pushed against the door once more, slamming into her as the door vanished from between the two of them.

"There ye go, asshole." Merida snapped as she shoved the individual off of her and into the stall door, Merida pushed past and made her way to the sink to wash her hands.

Leaning over and pumping some soap into her hand, she began lathering them under the water, not paying attention to the rude asshole who had been so completely desperate to get into her stall. Glancing up at the mirror for just a moment, she was just reaching up to pull her surgical mask back down into place when she noticed the individual who'd been slamming against her stall door was standing only a short distance behind her.

Her blue eyes narrowed, she whirled to face the other person. "Whot do ye want now?"

But instead of a verbal answer, the only response was a throaty growl as the individual lunged towards Merida.

Her eyes stretched wide and her quick reflexes kicked in, grabbing the young woman's wrists as she tried to lunge. Momentarily using her knee to hold the woman at bay, she pulled back for a moment before delivering the hardest kick she could manage, slamming the girl into one of the stalls with a dull _thud_.

But the girl didn't even pause to catch her breath before lunging at Merida once more, alarming the redhead and drawing her to the door of the bathroom. Desperately, Merida pulled open the bathroom door and slipped out of the room, pulling it mostly closed before she began to back away.

A guttural growl sounded and fingers were wedged in the open space between the door and the door frame before the girl's body was slammed against it, slamming her fingers into the door.

Merida winced, expecting a cry of pain from the girl, but only a snarl followed moments before she began to pry open the door with her free hand. The redhead shook her head in shock before sprinting down the hallway back to the room she shared with Tooth.

Desperately pulling open the door, she slipped inside her res room and slammed the door behind her, locking it and leaning against it as though afraid if her weight was not holding it closed, it would swing open.

"Tooth," Merida began breathlessly. "What exactly is this sickness ye were tellin' me abou'?"

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**Constructive criticism always appreciated! Please review!**


	2. Growing Numb

**It's been far too long since I updated this story last. My apologies, full time college mixed with a part time job really takes it toll.**

**I don't own Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons or any of the associated fandoms. I also do not own The Walking Dead.**

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"Oh no," Tooth said, jumping to her feet and hurrying over to her roommate, not bothering about her textbooks, which slid from her lap and hit the floor with a _thud_ as she scrambled to her feet. Immediately grabbing the redhead's arms and sliding her sleeves up to inspect her fair, freckled forearms. "Were you bitten?"

"Relax, Ah'm fine." Merida said, pulling away from the other girl and moving to her bed, her hands trembling. Sitting down, she put her head in her hands, taking deep breaths.

"What exactly happened?" Tooth asked.

"Tooth, tell me abou' this sickness." Merida demanded, pushing her hair back with one hand and fixing her ice-blue stare on the med student.

"It targets the brain." Tooth said, moving to her bed and picking up all of her fallen textbooks in a matter of seconds before joining her roommate on Merida's bed. "It's like rabies, almost. It makes you forget who you are, and you get really violent."

"And what about pain?" Merida asked. "The girl tha' attacked me slammed her fingers in tha bathroom door and did nae even flinch."

"I think the sickness numbs the nerves and makes the infected unable to feel pain." Tooth said. "But we don't really know. This whole epidemic has been sweeping the country at an alarming pace – between the infection rates and health precautions, I don't think anyone knows much about the disease at all."

"Tha's good ta know." Merida said with a sigh.

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"Ready?" the brunette male asked, glancing back at his companion with an impatient expression.

"I was _born_ ready." the blonde responded with a determined nod, her hands gripping the handle of her axe with both hands.

"Attention rising corpses, but the buffet is about to close." the male said loudly, stepping out from behind his hiding place, and attracting the attention of several nearby people, one of which made a guttural growl as they all changed direction and began to make their way towards him.

"Ugh." She couldn't help rolling her eyes in irritation as she witnessed the display. She had little patience for the older male's dramatic flair, but she had a grudging respect for his cunning nature. As much as his personality was bothersome, he'd survived for this long because he was clever, and she had come to accept that it was easier to survive if someone had your back.

Shifting her grip on her axe, she stepped out of the treeline and swung at the nearest geek, a dull crunch signifying that she'd hit her target. She dislodged her axe and the corpse dropped to the ground. Shifting her weight, she whirled around and buried her axe in the skull of a second, and then a third.

While he distracted them, she made her way to the door and, ignoring the red 'x' that had been spray painted across it, smashed the pathetic little lock right off the chain with a single stroke of her axe.

The door swung open and the stench of rotting flesh hit her nose. Breathing through her mouth, she tried not to gag as more corpses than she'd expected stumbled out of the mechanics' shop towards her.

Hitting one with the blunt end of her axe, she heard a crunch as the geek's head was twisted around the wrong way almost entirely, dropping it to the ground. She was already growing numb to the sound of bones breaking.

One geek lunged towards her as she was trying to dislodge her axe from another's head and very nearly missed her mark. Using her foot to kick back another, she swung and bashed another one right in the face with the back of her axe, leaving a large square dent where its nose had been.

Against the next foe, she swung her axe up and knocked the corpse back, shattering its lower jaw with the blunt end. As the one with the broken jaw recovered, she chopped the top part of another corpse's head clean off.

She was more than holding her own against the undead until the geek whose face she'd dented wrapped its partially rotted skeletal fingers around her ankle. Reacting quickly, she bent down and chopped its arm off at the elbow before kicking it in the face.

Bringing her boot down on top of its skull sprayed her legs with foul-smelling red-black blood. The wind was knocked out of her as something grabbed her from behind and slammed her against a nearby workbench. Her forearm slammed against a piece of torn metal and she felt it slice through her skin. Her hand giving way, she dropped her axe, the iron axehead giving a resounding _clang_ as it hit the concrete floor.

Gasping for breath, she pushed back against the undead but the others had already begun to swarm her. Moving her leg up, she kicked the knee of the geek that held her with all her might before attempting to turn around.

Still struggling as she tried to avoid being bitten, she didn't even notice the resistance lessening until the weight holding her against the workbench completely vanished, followed by a dull _thud._

Suddenly free, she grabbed her arm tightly as she turned around, grimacing at the amount of blood.

"You looked like you needed a hand." Her companion taunted, wiping his knife clean on a nearby zombie's shirt.

"I had _everything _under control." She said, peeling off the t-shirt she was wearing over top of her tank top. Grabbing her pocket knife, she cut off a strip and began to bind her bleeding arm.

"Need a hand there princess?"

Using her teeth to help tie the bandage tightly, she glared at her companion. As much as she could respect his survival skills, his smartass comments made her want to skin him alive.

"Just hurry up and get what we need." She snapped, satisfied with her temporary bandage.

Picking up her axe, she tested the weight in her hands before slamming the blunt end against the glass, cracking the reinforced glass in a spiderweb pattern. Using the top of the axe, she battered the corner nearest the handle until the sheet of shattered glass had come free.

Flynn reached in with a rag wrapped around his hand and twisted the handle before pushing open the heavy metal door.

Stepping into the office of the mechanics' shop, they began to make their way towards the break room, where they had hoped they might find canned goods left over from lunches that they could loot.

Astrid was the first to have her weapon up when another figure suddenly leaped to its feet in the middle of the aisle from under a desk. A thin, brown-haired boy holding a crowbar over his head with both hands pulled back as though preparing to attack them.

"Oh thank god," He said, relief flooding his face as he dropped to his knees. "I'm saved."

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**Constructive criticism always appreciated. Please review.**


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